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Luke 19:4 “…he
ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree…”
The Bible says that “Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus
was…”(Luke 19:3a), which indicates that he had never seen Jesus
before, but had probably heard about him. But Zacchaues had a
problem. “…On account of the crowd he could not see Him, because
he was short in stature." Luke 19:3b) Zacchaeus thought he could
solve this particular problem by running ahead of Jesus and
climbing up a sycamore tree that was on the way that Jesus was
going to pass through. “When Jesus came to the place, he looked
up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must
stay at your house today.” So he hurried down and was happy to
welcome Him.” (Luke 19:5,6) Isn’t it typical of us to keep
thinking to ourselves that we have Jesus in hearts, Jesus in our
homes, Jesus in our ministries, chiefly because we chose to
invite him in. I wonder how we would have ever opened the door
and invited him in, if He had not taken the first step to knock?
Yes it is true that Zacchaeus welcomed Jesus home – but do you
think he would have had that privilege, if Jesus had never
bothered to stop by the tree, look up at him and say,
“Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must…”
Wait a minute… I must??? Did Jesus say, “I must…” Zaccheaus
didn’t even know who Jesus was; he hadn’t even seen Him before!
I would have thought that when you meet someone you haven’t met
before and you wanted to stay over at their place for the day,
you would ask “Could I please stay at your house today?” or
“Would you mind if I stayed over at your place today?” On the
contrary, what we read here is not a polite request from Jesus
to Zacchaeus, but rather a compelling proposal – “I MUST stay at
your house today.” Oh the love of a Holy King that thought of
stopping by my sycamore tree and compelled me to have Him come
home - home to a sinner like me!! Calvary was not a polite
request to mankind to be saved, but a demonstration of how far
the love of God would go to compel us to have Him come home to
us. “…Rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though
perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.
But God proves his love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us…for while we were enemies, we were
reconciled to God through the death of his Son” (Romans
5:7,8,10a)
Notice that in order for Zacchaeus to welcome Jesus home, he had
to first hurry down the tree. Would he have been able to take
Jesus home if he had refused to come down that tree? Absolutely
not! Entering into fellowship with Christ is possible only when
we LEAVE OUR GROUND and REACH HIS GROUND – i.e. THE BLOOD.
Beware of assuming that Christ came home because you took the
effort to climb up the tree. Rather it was because you took the
effort and hurried down the tree that made it possible for you
to take Him home. Which tree do you tend to climb? The tree of a
rich Christian family heritage that makes you think it gives you
easier access into fellowship with Christ? “Hurry down”; it is
the blood that makes it possible. Or maybe the tree of a
disciplined Bible study routine that you follow? “Hurry down” it
is the blood that makes it possible. Or maybe the tree of a
successful and useful ministry u have? “Hurry down”; it is the
blood that makes it possible. “But now in Christ Jesus you who
once were far off have been brought near by the blood of
Christ.” (Ephesians 2: 13) “…We have been justified by His
blood…” (Romans 5:9). Hurry! Climb down your tree and enter into
communion with Him, on basis of the blood and NOTHING else.
Lastly, “…the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
So it was not because Zacchaeus climbed up the tree that he had
an encounter with Christ; it was because Jesus came seeking for
him there. Even if Zacchaeus had not been on top of a tree, but
behind a bush or even lost in the crowd – the Son of Man would
have sought him out. “Those whom he foreknew he also
predestined…those whom he predestined, he called; those whom he
called, he also justified; and those whom he justified, he
glorified” (Romans 8:29,30)
Are you trying to seek Jesus, but at the same time you feel
“short” and can’t seem to find Him? Do not fear – the Son of Man
will “seek you out” wherever you are. God knows exactly where
you are today. He knows your shortcomings, your fears, your
desires, your failures, your worries –He knows everything.
Believe in Him. Will you climb down that tree today and receive
justification based on the blood that paid your penalty? Will
you accept His Lordship over your life and receive His
salvation? Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your
hearts… He climbed up, but he hurried down and called Him Lord. |
